北约从利比亚战役中学到什么.docVIP

北约从利比亚战役中学到什么? NATO officials say they are close to ending their nearly seven-month-long bombing campaign in Libya, designed to prevent forces loyal to former leader Moammar Gadhafi from attacking civilians. The operation made it possible for the Libyan NTC fighters to take control of the country, but it also revealed some significant military and political challenges for the alliance. NATO aircraft flew more than 26,000 missions over Libya, including 9,600 bombing runs. Alliance ships have evacuated civilians and enforced a blockade on military equipment bound for the pro-Gadhafi forces. The operation has had some problems, but it has been an effective effort launched on short notice. The top NATO military commander, U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis, is pleased with that. Id say the first lesson learned from Libya is that NATO works, that we can quickly with real alacrity and real strategic effect marshal force and bring it to bear in support, in this case, of United Nations Security Council resolutions, said Stavridis. But Stavridis also acknowledges that the Libya operation revealed some shortcomings. Top of my list is targeting, the ability to fuse intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and produce coherent, precision targeting that does not cause collateral damage. We did a reasonable job on that but I think we could do better, added Stavridis. Libya also revealed some political gaps in the NATO alliance. While all 28 member nations endorsed the operation, only eight participated. And for Nick Witney, former head of the European Unions defense agency, that is disturbing. Few of the allies were actually prepared to participate in what, at least in opening phases, the saving of Benghazi, was surely one of the simplest geostrategic, moral, political decisions that one would have to take about whether to join an intervention or not, said Witney. Witneys colleague at the European Council on Foreign Relations, former British defense official Daniel Korski, s